Retirees feel the pinch of falling interest rates
Lower rates are eroding the retirement savings of many Australians, writes Chris Zappone. The Reserve Bank's recent rate cuts are benefiting young people at the expense of the old, retirees say. For John Logan, a 66-year-old Melbourne mainframe computer programmer preparing for his retirement, a slide in interest rates has eroded the growth of his term deposits and he is unmoved by complaints of younger mortgage payers. "I put up with 18 per cent interest rates when I was their age,'' he said. Mr Logan holds little hope that rates rates will be nudged up to protect the savings and cash holdings in his self-managed super fund. His frustration is felt by a generation of people at or near retirement age who shifted funds out of shares to avoid the losses seen in the past few years, only to watch in dismay as the banks whittle away their returns in response to lower official rates. With...